Volume 1, Chapter 173 – Breakthrough

“When a divine weapon develops intelligence, it is different from dead objects. It has to recognize a master and be taken into the body for long-term nurturing. After recognition, even if someone else gets their hands on this spirit weapon, they will not be able to use it for a while, unless they erase your imprint and then suppress the sword spirit.”

“Hasn’t this sword already recognized Chu Yang as its master? How am I supposed to erase Chu Yang’s mark?” Shi Lan frowned.

“Chu Yang’s imprint has already been erased. Even the sword spirit did not notice. It has already been severed from Chu Yang.”

As for the Empress-raising System that coexisted with it in the same body, Samsara no longer knew what to think.

Method after method, all utterly unbelievable, even like wild fantasies, had refreshed its understanding again and again. “Unfathomable” was nowhere near enough to describe it.

Yet such a powerful system was a symbiotic type and had no intelligence. Its origins were truly hard to fathom.

“Right now you are not strong enough. Your sea of consciousness has not opened, so you cannot condense a spiritual imprint. You can only temporarily use a blood imprint instead.”

“What do I need to do?” Shi Lan asked in puzzlement.

“Bathe the sword body in your blood for three days. Then you can establish a certain connection with this spirit sword.”

After thinking for a moment, Shi Lan put the Golden Rainbow Star-Chasing Sword straight into the Qiankun Bracelet. Her blood and qi were greatly depleted at the moment. If she bled to wash the sword again, it might damage her body.

“Tianbai!”

Shi Lan lifted her head and called out softly.

A white shadow darted in and lay respectfully in front of Shi Lan.

“Blood food,” Shi Lan said simply.

Tianbai did not hesitate. It answered and left, wind under its paws.

After licking up the fresh blood that had flowed from the Demon King before it, Tianbai could feel that the barrier that had blocked it for nearly forty years was beginning to shake. Earth Fiend Realm perfection was close at hand, and it also sensed that the innate shackles in its body were starting to loosen.

For demon beasts, bloodline was of utmost importance. Take the pure-blooded dragon race for example. They were born with the strength of the Earth Fiend Realm. Even if they did not cultivate, once they reached adulthood they were sure to step into the Heavenly Astral Realm. With just a bit of effort, they could become Heaven Demon Kings and dominate a region.

For ordinary demon beasts, if they had no fortuitous encounter, their upper limit was fixed. They could see the end of their path almost from the moment they were born.

Noble bloodlines allowed those powerful races to forever stand at the peak of the Boundless Demon Domain, calling the wind and summoning the rain, looking down on all under the clouds.

Tianbai was a demon beast known as a Profound Jade Leopard. At best it could step into the Heavenly Astral Realm and would never in its life hope to reach the realm of a Heaven Demon King.

After swallowing that blood, though, Tianbai’s upper limit was raised slightly. It now had a sliver of possibility of taking human form. Even though it was just a sliver, it had already broken the shackles of its bloodline and given its future more possibilities.

Faced with this change, Tianbai was full of excitement. But it also understood that this kind of opportunity could only be stumbled upon, never sought. It did not even dare to bring up any request to Shi Lan.

The demon race placed enormous weight on bloodlines. If this Demon King learned that it harbored any covetous thoughts toward her bloodline, she would probably kill it on the spot, leaving not the slightest room to maneuver.

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Now Tianbai thought only of doing everything in its power to carry out all of Shi Lan’s commands and increase its importance in her eyes.

After all, in its view, once Shi Lan recovered her strength, chances for her to need it would only become fewer and fewer.

…

This time, Tianbai was gone much longer on its hunt for blood food. A whole night passed before it returned the next morning.

When it came back, its body was covered in many wounds. Its right flank had collapsed in, clearly showing several broken ribs. It was dragging in its mouth a massive golden ox nearly eight zhang long.

The ox’s throat had been clamped tight by Tianbai. Its body was covered with claw marks and bite marks. Its pupils were dull and lifeless. It had been dead for some time.

“Boom!”

Tianbai opened its jaws, and the ox’s upper body slammed onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

After setting down its prey, Tianbai looked at Shi Lan somewhat uneasily, unsure whether she would become angry because this ox did not look good enough.

Shi Lan sat where she was with her eyes closed, not moving a muscle.

Seeing this, Tianbai withdrew on its own.

Once Tianbai left the cave, the Black Domain slowly unfolded, wrapping around the golden ox.

This ox’s strength was at least in the late Earth Fiend Realm. Its flesh and blood essence were unimaginably rich. For the current Shi Lan, it was a great tonic.

Shi Lan’s chest rose and fell slightly as she stretched her muscles and bones, taking in that blood qi as boundless as a river. The wounds on her body that had already scabbed over were now shedding part of their scabs. The skin beneath was still smooth and glossy, not leaving a single scar.

The golden ox’s blood qi was soon drained completely by Shi Lan, leaving it utterly empty. Her injuries had recovered by several degrees.

After running her cultivation technique for several cycles, Shi Lan ended her circulation, opened her eyes, left the cave, and casually looked for a giant tree.

The giant trees here were all at least a hundred zhang tall. Even dozens of people joining hands could not encircle them, and even the branches were about a zhang thick.

Shi Lan chopped off a section of branch and returned to the cave. With a few quick moves she made a simple long box, then took out the Golden Rainbow Star-Chasing Sword, placed it inside, and sliced open a wound on her wrist, beginning to draw out her blood and qi.

The pale violet blood almost spurted out, quickly filling the long box and submerging the sword.

Sitting crouched at the cave entrance, Tianbai flared its nostrils. A look of longing rose in its beast eyes as it restlessly scraped its claws against the stone wall, sending up a few sparks.

After closing the wound, a slight dizziness rose in Shi Lan’s head. Her skin, already close to translucent, lost what little color it had left.

Once she steadied the discomfort in her body and hesitated briefly, Shi Lan chose not to call Tianbai again. Hunting that golden ox had already left Tianbai badly injured. If she sent it out to hunt again and it happened to die outside, the situation would become even worse for her.

…

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By the next morning, all the energy contained in the spirit blood within the wooden box had been sucked dry by the Golden Rainbow Star-Chasing Sword, not a drop left. A faint, almost imperceptible connection had formed between Shi Lan and the spirit sword.

“Your blood is different from everyone else’s. There is a very special energy in it…” The sword spirit floated out of the blade, its tone full of lingering taste.

Shi Lan said nothing. She pushed the sword spirit straight back into the blade and put it, box and all, back into the Qiankun Bracelet.

Blood and qi were different from true qi. If she relied on absorbing spiritual qi to recover them, the speed was quite slow. Even with the Jade Tempering Art, it would still take quite a bit of time.

The blood and qi she had expended yesterday had not yet been replenished. If she bled again, it would only further delay the time it took her to fully recover.

After thinking it over for a while, Shi Lan still summoned Tianbai and sent it out to hunt, adding a reminder, “The level of the blood food doesn’t need to be too high. As long as the quantity is enough, it is fine. Be careful.”

In this place where she was surrounded by demon beasts on all sides, if Tianbai died, Shi Lan could only give up her original plan and return to the Vast Land of Shenzhou.

When Tianbai realized Shi Lan actually cared about whether it lived or died, it could not help feeling a bit of joy. This meant that, in Shi Lan’s eyes, it was no longer something dispensable. At the very least, it now had some value.

…

With a large supply of blood food, the blood imprint for the Golden Rainbow Star-Chasing Sword was soon successfully established, and Shi Lan finally gained control over this five-star spirit weapon.

Although with her current strength she still could not draw out all of its power, the Golden Rainbow Star-Chasing Sword was, after all, a five-star item. Even the small portion of its power she could currently use already exceeded the limit of the Purple Star Seven-Section Halberd.

Moreover, because of the sword spirit’s existence, this spirit sword could attack on its own. Its offensive power was even much stronger than when Shi Lan controlled it personally.

Since the name Golden Rainbow Star-Chasing Sword was too long, Shi Lan simply took the “Jinhong” from it as the sword spirit’s name to make it easier to call.

Once the blood imprint was completed, Shi Lan had Tianbai take Jinhong and roam everywhere, hunting Earth Fiend Realm demon beasts.

The Earth Fiend Realm demon beasts that died under Jinhong’s sword were naturally counted as Shi Lan’s kills. Because of that, even though she stayed in the cave and did not move a step, Shi Lan’s mission panel never stopped climbing and quickly broke past two hundred.

After devouring large amounts of Earth Fiend Realm demon beast flesh and blood, Shi Lan’s injuries soon fully healed.

With Jinhong handling the missions, Shi Lan did not need to divide her attention. She only had to focus on cultivating. In just one month, she successively opened up five or six acupoints. On her left arm, only the Great Bone Acupoint on the scapular ridge remained unopened.

…

The Great Bone Acupoint did not block Shi Lan for long. In just a single day, it was blasted open by her true qi.

With her experience from冲窍 on the left arm, Shi Lan became even more skillful with the corresponding acupoints on the right arm.

With an unending supply of demon beast flesh and blood, she advanced like a hot knife through butter. The acupoints that blocked her path were crushed one after another, and her cultivation began to surge upward.

…

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Several more months slipped by.

Shi Lan sat in the cave with a Nascent Spirit Pill in her hand. Her breathing was clearly audible, the sound dull like muffled thunder. Vast spiritual qi flowed in and out with each of her breaths, slowly increasing her true qi and strengthening her muscles and bones.

The mighty true qi in her body, already several times stronger than before, roared around inside her without pause. Again and again, as if tireless, it slammed into the Tianzong acupoint.

The Tianzong acupoint was located below the right scapular ridge, pressed close to the back. It was the final acupoint of the early Earth Fiend Realm. Once it was opened, all the acupoints around both arms would be fully activated, and her cultivation would step into the mid Earth Fiend Realm.

Three days earlier, Shi Lan had driven Tianbai several hundred li away and had Jinhong keep a close eye on it, forbidding it from returning to the cave, because she was preparing to break through.

When breaking through, her aura would be difficult to conceal. If Tianbai paid even a little attention, it would inevitably notice something. At that point, things would become a bit difficult to handle.

Shi Lan had not moved for three days straight. A hazy radiance surrounded her, and the ground around her was covered in fine powder.

The demon beasts that had died had been drained of all their flesh and blood essence. Even their bones had been stripped of their marrow and crumbled into bone powder that carpeted the cave floor. Their hides and fur were piled like mountains in the corners of the cave.

The acupoint gate of the Tianzong acupoint was already covered in cracks and tottered on the verge of collapse.

Shi Lan was in no hurry at all. She drew her true qi and continued to bombard the acupoint gate in cycle after cycle.

“Crack.”

Suddenly, her true qi flowed smoothly inside her, and a wave of delight rose in her heart.

Countless strands of heaven and earth spiritual qi surged in through the crown of her head. Her true qi swelled rapidly. In an instant, it had nearly doubled in strength.

Shi Lan snapped her eyes open and clenched both hands into fists. Two muffled pops of air rang out. Her pupils, filled with purple mist, flashed with a shifting, multicolored light.

At this moment, her two arms had become the strongest part of her body. Even her legs, full of explosive power, could not compare.

The explosive surge of power gave Shi Lan the illusion that she could prop up the sky with a single hand.

Shi Lan stood up. An invisible surge of force swept out, clearing away the bone powder around her. She then strode out of the cave while linking her thoughts with Jinhong and sending out a somewhat vague order to return.

After all, the connection of a blood imprint could not compare to a spiritual imprint. Once the distance grew a bit, the sense between them would no longer be as clear.

…

A huge white shadow more than six zhang long was racing madly along the banks of a wide river. At its side, pressed close, was a narrow, pale-golden sword shadow.

Behind the white shadow followed a massive black shape over twenty zhang tall: an enormous black bear.

“Roar!”

The black bear was wildly irritable. Its furious roar was carried by the river wind for tens of li, startling countless birds into flight.

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Its body was enormous, yet its speed was not much faster than the white shadow’s, so for the moment it could not catch up.

“Idiot White, our master told us to go back.” Jinhong leapt onto the sword body and poked Tianbai beside it.

When Tianbai heard this, it turned around without hesitation, plunged into an ancient forest, and rushed toward its dwelling.

The only reason it had been leading this black bear around in circles was because it was afraid the bear would disturb Shi Lan and cause her to vent her anger on it later. Now that Shi Lan had given the order for them to return, there was no need for it to keep tangling with the black bear.

Tianbai knew Shi Lan’s injuries had long since fully healed. A Demon King in this small patch of land feared no one at all. All it had to do was lure the black bear to Shi Lan. How to deal with it after that was entirely up to her.

The black bear charged into the forest right behind them. The ancient trees, all over a hundred zhang tall, did nothing to slow it. They were smashed through at the roots.

“Roar!”

“Stop right now! Come back with me to see His Majesty and explain the cause and effect. There is still a sliver of life for you. If you keep running and I catch you, you are dead for sure, and your entire race will be implicated!”

Listening to the roars in its ears, Tianbai could not have cared less. Only a fool would believe that sort of talk. As for implicating its race, that was even more laughable.

Profound Jade Leopards had always roamed alone. No one knew how many there were in the whole Boundless Demon Domain. Even if you gave this Demon King ten thousand years, it might not kill them all.

“This stupid bear is so annoying. Why can’t we just kill it?” Jinhong said impatiently.

“It is… under the command of the Cangyue Demon King. Whether it lives or dies depends on… what His Majesty decides,” Tianbai panted.

It was not stupid. Making an enemy out of a Demon King was no small matter. Shi Lan had to decide that personally. If it killed the bear on its own and things came to light later, and Shi Lan chose to make peace, then it would truly be done for.

Staring at the white figure flickering in and out among the trees ahead, the giant bear grew more and more furious. It swung a paw as large as a boulder, broke two ancient trees, grabbed them up, and hurled them at Tianbai.

Tianbai did not even look back. It was as if it had eyes on the back of its head as it dodged aside. The terrifying force contained in those thick tree trunks smashed down who knew how many plants, carving two deep trenches through the forest floor. Dirt flew everywhere and tree roots scattered.

Many low-level demon beasts were caught up in it and lost their lives in that single blow.

Tianbai kept silent, its breathing growing heavier as it ran for its life.

Hundreds of li passed in the blink of an eye.

Shi Lan had just broken through and was in an excellent mood. When she saw Tianbai burst out of the forest, she could not help letting a faint smile curve her lips.

“Roar!”

The frenzied beast roar that sounded at her ear, along with several massive tree trunks flying toward her right after, froze Shi Lan’s smile in an instant.